A Small Tale From The Grand Epic Called History
by Lucillia
Summary: Auror Alastor Moody arrests and tries to interrogate a strange boy who came from the future with an incredible story to tell. A story about a dark future where a betrayed Harry Potter destroyed the world. A story he plans to change. Sequel is up.
1. The beginning of the tale

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

History can be seen as a story, a grand sweeping epic of heroes, villains, monsters and grand battles. People can try to turn history into a series of cold hard facts with dates attached, but to do so one would have to ignore the circumstances behind the events. Each piece of history, while a part of the whole, is a story in itself.

For a story to make sense, it has to have a beginning. All stories begin at the beginning of time, but few beings are able to fully comprehend this, and for the sake of convenience and the shortness of the human lifespan, people tend to find a beginning point much later than the beginning of time. When relating a piece of the grand epic called history to others, people generally pick a beginning for their story at the point where all the things they think are relevant to the story have come together.

Our story could be said to have begun with Salazar Slytherin's legendary departure from Hogwarts, but telling the story from this point would take far too long, and the main part of the story takes place a thousand years later.

The beginning could be considered to be December 31st 1926, when at an orphanage in London a woman named Merope Gaunt Riddle gave birth to a boy she named Tom Marvolo. After all, Tom was one of the main characters in this story. But, the story that is to be related isn't entirely about him and is centered around someone else.

Our story could've also begun at two different times in 1939. Once in January with the birth of a little girl named Anne who was considered by both of her parents to be a miracle and promptly sheltered away from anything that might bring her harm, and once in June with the birth of a girl to a Dark Lord named Grindlewald and a beautiful, young French woman whose life was tragically cut short. After all both girls were involved in the events that were to come. The tale of shy delicate Anne sheltered at her family's estate however, would've been a boring beginning, and after an exciting beginning of being switched for a transfigured blanket and smuggled out of Grindlewald's stronghold shortly after birth because Grindlewald hadn't wanted a girl and had decided to kill it, Gabrielle's tale soon peters out to a relatively normal childhood in the French countryside.

Our story could have also begun in the Summer of 1962, when a man named Harold Evans found a toddler wandering the streets of Paris when he was on a business trip. After all she became one of the most important players in this tale.

While all of these events and more have a great influence on what comes later, and are in themselves part of the story, none of these are the beginning of our tale. Our story begins in an interrogation room in the British Ministry of Magic building. Seated at a table in the middle of the room are an Auror named Alastor Moody and a seven year-old boy with black hair and gray eyes. Both are waiting for a second Auror to bring the bottle of Veritaserum so the boy could begin his tale...


	2. An aborted interrogation

Alastor Moody stared distrustfully at the "boy" that was seated before him at the table in Interrogation Room 7. Earlier that day, the child had cast a curse that would have been nearly impossible for a Hogwarts seventh year, with a wand he shouldn't even have. Moody wanted answers, and he wanted them now. The boy, if that's what he was, turned towards the door as an Auror entered. He wasn't the same Auror that Moody had sent out to retrieve the Veritaserum. Moody suspected that the note the child had requested the Auror that had been sent out deliver had something to do with this. 

"Hello Kingsley, I trust you brought the Veritaserum with you." The boy said to the new Auror, a tall bald black man who was just out of training. "This is going to be a long and frankly unbelievable story and since it is most important that you believe it I requested the Veritaserum." The boy leaned forward "I am only going to tell this story once, and since you both are involved, and I know I can trust you, you will be the people I tell it to. I trust that what I tell you will not leave this room unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Depends what the story is." Moody growled out. He wasn't about to listen to whatever story the kid had to tell, he was going to ask his questions and get his answers, that was it.

The boy turned to Kingsley Shaklebolt, and requested that he administer the Veritaserum. Once the proper dose was given, and had taken effect, Moody began the interrogation. Kingsley sat to his left preparing to take notes.

"What is your real name?" Moody growled. There was no way in hell that "kid" could be the seven year-old child he claimed to be, it had to be an unknown wizard masquerading as the young heir to the Black family, who had last been seen a year ago. Since it had been over an hour since the "boy"'s capture Polyjuice potion could be ruled out as a method of disguise.

"Thomas James Black." The boy responded.

"Where did you get the wand?" Moody continued. So it was the boy. Now to find out who gave him the wand and taught him that curse.

"Number Twelve Grimwauld Place." The boy responded.

"When did you learn the curse you used on that muggle in the alley earlier today?" Moody continued. It seems that the boy had removed one of the wands that were undoubtedly stashed somewhere in the Black family home. Now to learn where that curse come from.

"My last year as Headmaster of The School. About two months before I died." The boy responded.

Moody stared at the boy. If he hadn't seen the Veritaserum be properly administered and take effect, he wouldn't have believed the boy. As it was he was having a hard time believing him anyways. It was most likely that The boy believed what he had said, rather than actual reality. If it weren't for that curse that had been cast earlier today, he would've unquestioningly believed the child to be insane.

"I suppose the story you wanted to tell us will clear up any questions we have about your last answer?" Moody asked.

"Most Likely." The boy responded.

"Tell it then." Moody said. He had a feeling that he wouldn't get any sensible answers out of the boy until after this mysterious story was told, if even then.

"For much of the story to make sense, I will have to start at a point well before I was born. If you would care to recall, Moody, you were a fifth year prefect when a boy named Tom Riddle began his stay at Hogwarts. He will be most important as he was a major player in what was to come later." The boy began in the flat, emotionless tone of one under the influence of Veritaserum.

"I will begin this story a few years after Tom Riddle's abrupt departure from his employment at Borgin & Burkes shortly following the murder of Hezipiah Smith. Though this story is not about me, I play a large part in it and therefore will start at a point which relates to me more than the person whom this story is about.

In the Summer of 1954, an American wizarding family of some means employed a young man named Tom Riddle as a tutor for their fifteen year old daughter, Anne Louise Wheeling. Tom quickly discovered her to be an easy target, since she led a sheltered life under the watchful eyes of overprotective parents. Seducing the child had been easy since she had little knowledge about the ways of the world, and much less about the ways of men. All it took was a few sweet words, a couple of lingering glances, and an "accidental" brush of the hand or two and little Anne was Tom's to do with as he pleased.

Two months into his job, Tom allowed Anne's parents to witness them doing something somewhat indecent, but not indecent enough to give Anne's father an excuse to kill him. Tom was "forced" to marry Anne in order to prevent a scandal. Three weeks after the wedding, Tom vanished to parts unknown, along with a bunch of extremely rare and valuable Dark Arts books that the family had brought with them to America a couple of centuries earlier, and the contents of Anne's trust vault.

Eight and a half months after Tom's departure, Anne died giving birth to a little girl who was promptly adopted by her grandparents who named her Marion Louise Wheeling. Having learned their mistake with Anne, they vowed to make sure that their "Little Mary Lou" would learn exactly what the world was like so she would know how to defend herself from the sort of person her mother had fallen prey to. Marion grew up to be a far stronger person than her mother was."

Thomas paused at this point. Kingsley Shaklebolt gave the boy some water wondering exactly what this Tom Riddle person conning a young girl had to do with anything, and how it related to the boy in front of him. Kingsley also wondered if he would find out how the boy knew about the secret he had written in the note requesting his presence. He had a feeling that he wouldn't get his answers until the story was over.

Moody leaned forward waiting for the boy to continue, the boy claimed that this story was important somehow, he wanted to find out exactly why it was, and how he was related to it other than being in the same school at the same time as some no good swindler and rapist. The sooner the story was finished, the sooner he could get back to the actual interrogation.

The boy, Thomas, leaned back and began to speak.

"When the information in the next part of the story was first revealed, there was a great deal of shock amongst those who learned it. This is the piece that most needs to stay here. I don't know much about what happened between 1955 and 1958, but in the August of 1958 Tom Riddle arrived in Paris to study at the Dark Arts library that was, at the time, located in the wizarding section of the Louvre. While he was looking through the papers from Grindlewald's side of the war, he discovered something quite interesting.

Apparently some guard at a back gate somewhere had recorded the departure of one of the housekeepers and an infant, on the day that Grindlewald's daughter was supposedly killed. Two months and many hours of digging later, he had believed that he tracked the child to France.

Gabrielle Messier, the end result of Tom's search, a stunning woman with blond hair and emerald green eyes, was far more knowledgeable about the ways of the world than Anne Wheeling had been. Seducing her had been a challenge for Tom, and like all other challenges, Tom overcame it.

On July 10th 1959, Gabrielle discovered during a visit to the healers, that Tom had somehow gotten around her anti-conception potions. Knowing that if she remained unwed, she would lose her position as History of Magic Professor at Beauxbatons before she had even begun, Gabrielle finally consented to marry the young man who "Loved her from the moment he saw her".

Gabrielle knew exactly what Tom was after from the beginning. Tom wasn't the first wannabe Dark Lord that had tracked her down. Apparently, despite the fact that her father hadn't even wanted her, marrying her would give the next Dark Lord some legitimacy to any claim he would make of being Grindlewald's successor.

Tom had his nose buried in a book somewhere in the Beauxbatons school library when his daughter Lilith Marie Riddle was born. When he finally returned to the quarters he and his wife, whom he viewed as a slight inconvenience that must be tolerated if he wished to make any progress with Grindlewald's former followers, shared, he was informed that the child had been born. His only reaction to the news that he had a child was to look down at the baby that had been presented to him and say "Ugly thing, isn't it." before he walked off. The relationship between father and daughter failed to grow from that point. He generally didn't realize that he had a daughter until she got underfoot.

One evening two years and a couple months after Lilith was born, Gabrielle was walking to the apartment the family shared during the Summer, from a play that she had been forced to bring Lilith to, since Tom refused to watch her. The walk under the night sky helped relax her and prepare her for the ordeal of having dinner with Tom, who it seems, came home from the Dark Arts library just to annoy her. With her focus on the heavens above, it is understandable that she never noticed the speeding car on the street that she was crossing. It was only a sudden burst of accidental magic that saved the life of her daughter.

Had Harold Evans not decided to go for a walk and maybe catch a play that evening, there would've been a very good chance that Lilith would've died long before the sun even rose. Upon seeing a small, shivering, toddler huddled in an alley clutching a locket on a broken chain, Harold did what was right, he took the girl to the hospital.

Harold Evans spent most of the night answering questions from doctors and the local police. All he knew about the child was that she had said her name was Lily. He decided that if the child's family could not be found, he would try to adopt the girl. His wife had been wanting another daughter, and the discovery that she could no longer have children had been a great blow.

After a couple of months, Harold Evans once again returned to France on business. When he got to Paris, he asked about the child. The locket that the child had been holding had created no leads, her parents had not been found, and she had been sent to a nearby orphanage. At this news, Harold contacted a lawyer who worked international adoptions and began the process of adopting the little waif.

Tom Riddle was mildly disappointed that the Grindlewald connection had not panned out. He was going to personally find and torture the idiot drunk driver who had ruined his plans. It seems that he would have to go back to England and get his followers there.

Tom packed his belongings in preparation of his return to London, not caring about the death of his wife, and only noting his child's absence in the lack of stumbling over her or her belongings.

As Tom was arriving in London, in Surrey, Rose, and little Petunia Evans were welcoming the arrival of the newest addition to their family, Lily Rose Evans." At this point, Thomas stopped, his mouth was dry.

Alastor wondered what about the information given would be shocking. The pieces began to slowly click into place. Why was the name Lily Evans so familiar? When the answer finally came to him, he couldn't believe it.

Alastor Moody sat back too stunned to speak. It was a good thing he had been sitting at the time or he might have fallen over. The boy had been telling him that Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Savior of the wizarding world, was the Dark Lord Grindlewald's great grandson.

Kingsley gave Thomas some water and another dose of Veritaserum. He had to admit this was the most interesting interrogation he'd ever attended, though it had long since ceased being such. The story the boy told was hard to believe but apparrently true. He hoped that he would understand why he started the story where he did. Maybe the next part would shed light on the beginning. Kingsley sat back, quill in hand waiting for Thomas to continue...


	3. The Marauders and Lily Grow up

"This part of the story brings us much nearer to the person the story I'm telling you is about." Thomas began. 

"The next and probably most important piece of the story begins at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September 1st 1971. This is where most of the story starts to come together, and the people who seem most involved begin to appear. That cold September day would be Lily Evans' first day amongst wizardkind since the death of her mother. On that day, at the feast that marked the opening of the school year, Lily was sorted into Gryffindor.

In the Gryffindor common room, a young boy named James Potter made a very bad first impression when he soaked Lily with cold water and claimed that he thought her head was on fire.

That night, in the first-year boy's dormitory, James Potter met the three boys who would become his best friends. They were, a rather unhappy looking boy named Sirius Black, a rather sickly looking boy named Remus Lupin, and a pudgy boy that wouldn't become part of the group until much later that year, named Peter Pettigrew.

Sirius had too many of his own worries at the time to properly focus on the boy who had just decided that he was his friend, as most people know, the only acceptable houses for a member of the Black family were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. His family would give him hell for getting into Gryffindor, they might even disown him.

While Sirius was worrying about his family's reaction to his sorting, Remus Lupin was worrying about what would happen if any of his dorm mates discovered he was a werewolf. He hoped that they wouldn't kick him out or beat him up.

The next morning, shortly before breakfast the future Marauders met the boy they would torment, a first year Slytherin named Severus Snape. They met when James ran into Severus who had been holding a conversation with one of the portraits. It was hate at first sight.

Over the next year the Marauders, Snape, and Lily settled into a routine of something along the lines of the Marauders tormenting Snape, Lily defending Snape, the Marauders tormenting Lily for defending Snape, Snape cursing the Marauders, and the Marauders tormenting Snape again to restart the cycle. Over the next five years the cycle would continue with only one modification. In their third year, the Marauders tormenting Lily step would be replaced by James asking Lily out and Lily refusing.

During the first through fourth years, there was little of note except the shocking discovery in third year that Remus was a Werewolf, and the less shocking discovery that Lily had been dying her hair from brown to red, and had recently switched to color change charms. Instead of rejecting Remus, his friends had decided to find a way to stay with him during his difficult transformations, and found that becoming animagi would be the best solution. The hair-coloring incident, it was decided, would be forgotten by all involved.

In fifth year, after two years of effort, Remus' three best friends became animagi. James was a stag. Sirius was a dog, and Peter, with much help from his friends became a rat. They all spent the nights of the full moon running around the forbidden forest and Hogsmeade with Remus.

During Sixth year, Sirius Black found Severus Snape poking into where Remus went every month and decided to let him find out. Sirius told him which knot on the Whomping Willow to press to gain access to the tunnel beneath it. James, upon discovering what his friend had done, had raced down to the Whomping Willow to retrieve Snape. Though they both got out alive, Snape had seen Remus transform. Albus Dumbledore swore all who were involved to secrecy. It is this incident that tipped the balance and caused Snape to seek a position as one of the Dark Lord's followers.

It was during Seventh year, when James Potter seemed to settle down, that Lily finally gave into his advances, and consented to be his girlfriend. Seventh year was also the year that the James, Sirus, Remus, Peter and Lily joined the Order of the Phoenix." Thomas stopped his mouth was dry once more.

Kingsley gave Thomas some more water, he wanted to know what happened next. How did the Wheelings fit in with all of this? He could see how Tom and Gabrielle fit in, they were Lily's real parents. Lily married James, and had Harry later on. Tom's older daughter seemed to be an irrelevant detail. Except that the boy had said that the detail relates closely to him.

"After school was over, James and Sirius went into Auror training, Lily was hired at the Research and Development department in the Department of Mysteries, and Peter had gotten employment at the Magical Menagerie. On top of this, all of them fulfilled their obligations to the Order of the Phoenix. At the same time, Snape began to realize what a mistake joining Voldemort had been.

With the strain of his duties pressuring him, Sirius decided that he needed a vacation. He decided that would blow off the New Years Eve training session and head to some place in America called Atlantic City, which he had heard from another Auror trainee, was one place you don't want to miss. While he was wandering the halls of one of the wizarding casinos (they let people in when they come of age, rather than at 21, unlike the muggle casinos) drink in hand, he ran into a pretty brunette who looked to be a few years older than him. Naturally he did the only thing he could do in such a situation, he struck up a conversation.

Her name as it turned out was Marion Wheeling, she was four years older than him, and her friends had dragged her here so she could "Get a life". Sirius, who had always been interested in older women, decided he was in love. He and Marion spent a great deal of time talking and drinking. Quite late in the evening, possibly very early in the morning, an interesting idea came to Sirius in the way many ideas do to one who has had several drinks before thinking it up. And as such ideas come to the drunk, they also sound quite sensible to those who have had just as much to drink. The next morning, Sirius Black awoke in a hotel in Las Vegas with a hangover and a new wife." At this point Thomas paused talking this much was exhausting. He couldn't stop. The story must get out. The story had to get out.

Moody, realizing that the boy was tiring ordered him to take a break and requested that Shaklebolt bring a meal. He waited for the effects of the Veritaserum to wear off so the boy could eat. So the traitor Black had gotten drunk and married Lily's half sister. Something the boy said about the father clicked into place. Tom was some wannabe Dark Lord who upon failing to gain Grindlewald's former followers, and in the early sixties, had gone to England to get some. Moody began to think, had Tom been one of Voldemort's early competitors, he would've most likely have been disposed of in a rather gruesome and public manner, to discourage others. Since none of the deaths during that time period attributable to Voldemort were of that sort, that meant...

The boy was still under the effects of the Veritaserum. Moody could ask his question, and get an honest answer.

"Did Tom Riddle become Lord Voldemort?" Moody asked.

"Yes." Was Thomas' only response.

Damn, this just kept getting weirder and weirder. Not only was The-Boy-Who-Lived Grindlewald's great grandson, but he was Voldemort's grandson as well. Moody just hoped this was just something that was only in the boy's head, but this didn't sound like something a seven year old would be able to make up.

Kingsley returned a moment later with a dinner tray. He set a plate and a spoon in front of the boy. Five minutes later clarity returned to Thomas' eyes indicating that the potion had worn off. The boy picked up the spoon and began to eat.

"Odd that your mother would name you after a father who had done so many horrible things to her mother." Moody said as he studied the boy before him.

"She actually named me after her grandfather. His name was Thomas, Tom Riddle was just named Tom." Thomas said as he put down his spoon and looked up at Moody.

"After you're done eating we'll take a break for tonight." Moody said to the boy. The child looked exhausted.

"No! It all has to be said tonight." Thomas yelled he had to get through to them, the story had to get out. Though it had to be kept a secret, someone other than him must keep it as well. "Dumbledore will find out I'm here well before morning, and if this isn't said by then, it won't be said at all."

"What does Dumbledore have to do with this?" Kingsley asked wondering why the boy seemed afraid of the idea of Dumbledore interrupting.

"You all know that Dumbledore does things for the "Greater Good" right?" Thomas asked. He had said the words "Greater Good" tone someone would use when describing the recently stepped in droppings of a domesticated animal.

"Yes." Said Moody wondering exactly where this was leading, and not liking it one bit.

"Well let's just say that many of the things he's done for the "Greater Good" were neither Great nor Good." Thomas hoped they would understand quickly. He had to finish soon or all would be lost.

"What are you getting at?" Said Kingsley offended that anyone would say such things about a person as great as Dumbledore.

"Well lets just say that Dumbledore has betrayed Order members who come from "Dark" families to the Death Eaters and has used families with children as bait for traps, amongst other things." Thomas said. He had to finish, they couldn't break for the night.

"Malfoy's younger brother." Alastor said cryptically as he handed the Veritaserum to Kingsley and indicated that they should continue...


	4. Betrayal of the worst kind

Kingsley gave Thomas another dose of Veritaserum and picked up his quill as he waited for it to take effect. The boy had better have a good reason for insulting Dumbledore. 

"Well, you know most of what happened in the years between 1978 and 1981. I was as you should remember, born on October 31st 1979. Three months later, you Moody, recovered my mother's body from the Death Eaters who had captured her a week earlier. Both of you know of Harry's birth on July 31st 1981.

So, I'll continue the story on a day in the middle of the September of 1981, when James Potter was discussing an issue Dumbledore had recently brought to his attention, with his friends. Apparently Moldy Voldie had decided to kill his son over some prophecy, and was looking for him. It had been decided that he, his wife, and his son would go into hiding under the Fidelius charm.

After a long debate with his friends (one of which, most likely Remus, Dumbledore had informed him, was a spy), it had been decided that Peter would become the secret keeper, and Sirius would act as a decoy. James and Lily informed Dumbledore of this plan the next day, in case anything went wrong. On September 20th the Fidelius charm was cast with Peter Pettigrew as the secret keeper.

We all know something of what happened next. On Halloween night, Voldemort came to Goderic's Hollow, killed James and Lily Potter, and failed to kill Harry.

The next day was hectic for all. Many people were partying, and many were planning their next move. Sirius was out hunting the rat that had betrayed his friends to Voldemort. Remus was wondering what the hell he was supposed to be doing with the betrayer's son Tommy (you can easily guess who he is), who had been left at his house the night before. Dumbledore was preparing to place Harry in a home that his parents had repeatedly stated that he should under no circumstances whatsoever be placed. While Lily loved Petunia as if she were her own sister, and her affections were returned, Petunia Dursley's husband, Vernon, was an abusive bastard who hated anything that was outside his view of ordinary.

Sirius managed to catch up with Peter early in the afternoon. When Peter realized that he was caught, he shouted for the whole street to hear, that Sirius had betrayed his friends. Before Sirius could get his wand up to curse the traitor who had once been his friend, Peter blasted the street with the wand that he had been hiding behind his back, cut his finger off, turned into a rat and vanished into the sewers. The Aurors caught Sirius a moment later, and with the "Evidence" that Dumbledore had submitted, Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial." Thomas stopped at this point because Kingsley had interrupted him.

"Dumbledore is a great man! He would never do such a thing!" Kingsley shouted at the boy. He couldn't believe what he had heard, the Veritaserum must've been defective. Dumbledore would never do what the boy claimed he had done.

"Shut up Kingsley and let the boy finish." Moody said. Something about the incident with Black hadn't sat right with him. After all, why hadn't he attempted to attack the Aurors that came to arrest him, instead of letting them lead him away quietly, or as quietly as can be expected with his insane laughter?

"Remus was sitting in the front room of his flat watching me play with some blocks when a letter from Dumbledore arrived." Thomas began. "The letter basically stated that Remus would have to take care of young Thomas until further notice. Remus, instead of rejecting me, vowed that he would raise me to the best of his abilities for as long as he had me and swore that the child would not end up like his father, which I didn't, I wasn't nearly half as reckless as he was. Remus only briefly wondered how Dumbledore would keep the Ministry from confiscating me and arresting him, but figured he had it all in hand. He should've thought about it longer, Dumbledore would soon be using me as blackmail in order to keep Remus in line.

That evening, sometime shortly before midnight, Dumbledore deposited baby Harry on the doorstep of number 4 Privet Drive and began setting up wards amongst other things. Dumbledore knew Harry wouldn't have a happy childhood and was counting on it. Later, at Hogwarts, he planned on being seen by the boy as a rescuer and father figure.

The next morning, several hours after he'd been left on the porch, Petunia Dursley went to get the milk and found her nephew instead. Wondering how she could break this to Vernon without him getting upset, Petunia brought the shivering toddler inside. There was a note in the blanket. The contents of which are thus:

Dear Mrs. Dursley,

I regret to inform you of the death of your sister Lily Evans Potter on the 31st of October 1981. Her sacrifice created a form of blood magic which saved her son who is currently being targeted by followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort. I would have placed the boy in the care of another family, but he needs to be in the care of a relative for the protection Lily created to continue. The protection will extend to cover the entire family while he is under your roof. Should the blood protection diminish, the child would be found and killed by Death Eaters within a week.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Petunia knew Vernon wouldn't like this. Vernon had told her that there was room for only one child in the house before he threw her down the stairs preventing the second and removing the possibility of any more. Vernon had apologized and promised that he wouldn't lay a hand on her ever again, like an idiot she had returned, the only thing on her mind being her precious Dudley, and what might happen to him if she left, and his father gained custody. Vernon would never accept another child into their home, especially an "Abnormal" one that wasn't even his.

Surprisingly, Vernon allowed Harry to stay provided he be kept in the cupboard under the stairs, and as soon as he decided that Harry was able, he would be put to work around the house.

Petunia quickly learned the best method of keeping Vernon from harming the child, even though it broke her heart to do so. Petunia learned never to show the child any love or affection. As far as Vernon was concerned, the child was an outsider, and only he and Dudley were supposed to receive her affection.

While Petunia was distancing herself from her nephew for his safety, Remus was swiftly discovering the terms of his being able to care for his Godson, namely that if he went anywhere near Harry at any time, he would be reported to the ministry, and we wouldn't want that now would we?

Remus had had me for two years, when, on a day he was looking for work in Diagon Alley, he accidentally ran into my grandmother. Remus lost custody of me pretty quickly, all it took was the threat of being brought up on kidnapping charges. The next day, Remus discovered that contact with Harry was still forbidden and if he did attempt to visit the boy, the Ministry would get an anonymous tip that there had been a child in Remus' home which suddenly vanished. The Ministry wouldn't ask questions about that one, they'd just kill him." Thomas stopped. His mouth had dried out once again.

Kingsley's hand was shaking as he handed the boy some water. Dumbledore just couldn't be the cruel manipulative bastard the boy described.

Alastor knew that Albus would sometimes use less than honorable means to meet his ends, but to go this far... It was unthinkable. Alastor had some idea as to how blood wards worked, and an adopted sister would never be able to power the blood wards, no matter the emotional connection. The child believed this story to be true. Perhaps a quick break would be in order. The child could get some rest, and Moody could confirm some facts. A half an hour should be long enough. He left Kingsley with strict orders to guard the boy and not let anyone other than himself in.

Since Moody was technically off shift his quick trip to visit an old friend wouldn't be frowned upon, he could always come back to complete some paperwork.

Kingsley stared at the strange boy in front of him. If half of what the boy said was really true...Merlin! He prayed that this was a pack of lies or the fantasy world of a damaged mind. The alternative was too horrible to contemplate.


	5. Moody checks his facts

Auror Moody apparated to the edge of the wards of an isolated home located in the middle of the Black forest. He waited for the chime that indicated that he had been recognized and given permission to enter. He found his friend Agustus Davies standing in the entry hall waiting to take his cloak. 

Alastor had known Agustus since the days when he had fought in the war against Grindlewald. Agustus had been able to infiltrate Grindlewald's ranks as a spy, and pass valuable information on to their side.

After the war, Agustus had kept tabs on those who had been involved with Grindlewald. If you wanted information on anything pertaining to Grindlewald, you went to him.

"I'm sorry Agustus, I don't have much time to visit." Moody said as he kept his cloak.

"Then why have you come old friend?" Agustus asked, knowing that he most likely wouldn't like the answer.

"I heard a most incredible story today, supposedly the infant child of Grindlewald survived and was smuggled to France. It's what happened afterward that's most interesting." Moody replied.

"Yes, the girl survived, you'll find a blanket in the grave that was supposed to be hers. I owed her mother a favor. So, what is this story you wish confirmed?" Agustus asked. This most likely wasn't going to be good.

"Well, the story started off with a man named Tom Riddle who raped and swindled some girl named Wheeling." Moody started, noting the reaction he got at the mention of Riddle's name.

"Go on." Agustus said, anything involving Riddle was a headache waiting to happen.

"Well, later the same man apparently got a History of Magic professor named Gabrielle Messier into a situation in which marriage was the only viable solution." Moody paused, Agustus clearly knew exactly what he was talking about. The boy Thomas hadn't been imagining things.

"If you are going to ask about the child Lilith, what you heard is most likely true. She did survive the accident that took her mother's life. I thought it would be best to leave her at the muggle hospital, so Grindlewald's line could end in obscurity. The father would've just used her. I heard that she got adopted by a nice English family. I would appreciate it if you kept this little fact from Dumbledore. He hasn't been the same since Grindlewald cursed him." Agustus said wondering how the hell Moody had heard about what he had believed to have been a total secret, the details of which known only to him.

"So, then it's true that the child was adopted by Harold Evans?" Moody asked.

"Yes. Where did you hear this?" Agustus asked. Where in the hell did Moody get the name of the muggle who took the child in?

"You don't need to know where I heard it, the source of the story has requested to remain anonymous for his own safety." Moody said "Were you aware of the fact that when Lily grew up, she married James Potter?"

"She was a hero, just like her grandmother, willing to sacrifice herself in the hopes of helping bring down the Dark Lord. Grindlewald's wife was not the stupid, selfish creature that most people believe her to be, she had given the allies a great deal of information before Grindlewald discovered this and killed her. She was the one who informed us of the location of the entrance that Dumbledore used to gain access to Grindlewald's stronghold." Agustus said. Very few people ever knew of the sacrifices Lily's grandmother had made, many wouldn't want to learn of them. If it hadn't been for her though, Dumbledore would have lost. Lily wasn't the only saint in the family.

"I take it you're leaving now?" Agustus asked, he had been given much to think about.

"Yes. I will make a social call on a later date, to make up for this abrupt visit." Moody said as he headed towards the door.

Agustus watched him leave. The knowledge that Moody had could be, in the wrong hands, quite dangerous. As far as he himself was concerned, Grindlewald's line ended with Grindlewald. Others wouldn't see it the way he did. Agustus prayed that the source was trustworthy."I hope you know what you're getting yourself into old friend."

Moody then apparated back to the British Ministry of Magic, grabbed a stack of papers from his desk, and brought them down to the interrogation room. So far, even though it was shocking and farfetched, what the boy had told him was the truth. He would hear the rest.


	6. Diverging Chapter of History

Moody reached the interrogation room and set the stack of paperwork down in front of him. The boy had just told him things that very few people knew, and he seemed to have gotten all his facts straight. This was no twisted childhood fantasy. He sensed that this special secret was far more important than a curse cast in self defense at a pedophile. Moody gestured to Kingsley to administer another dose of Veritaserum.

"Continue." Moody said looking up from the papers once the Veritaserum was administered.

"While I lived under the "Tender mercies" of my grandmother for over a year and a half, Harry was living in a household where he was abused and overworked by his Uncle Vernon, shown absolutely no affection by his fearful Aunt Petunia, and tormented by a cousin who, with no examples of what a good person should be was turning out to be very much like his father.

As you well know, when I was nearly six, my grandmother died of a heart attack. Most wizards and witches would be able to live well past one hundred years barring illness or injury, but the potions the esteemed Walburga Black was addicted to had shortened her life expectancy greatly. After the funeral, all of my British wizarding relatives refused to care for me. My American relatives weren't informed of my situation, and thought that I was living with my godfather Remus whom they had met shortly after my parents were married.

For some strange and unknown purpose, Dumbledore had decided that I should live with Harry at the Dursleys. I do not know exactly what threats he used to make Vernon willing to take in another "Freakish outsider", but take me in he did.

It is at the point two days after my arrival at the Dursley residence that things changed drastically. To understand how and why they changed, you will have to hear the history of a future that, should everything go right, will not happen again. You will hear how Dumbledore used the descendant of his enemy as a tool to destroy him. You will hear of the destruction of Harry Potter and the chaos it wrought. My life and death is twined within this tale. I will now tell you of the story I pray will eternally be removed from the Epic of History. My secret isn't just who Harry Potter's ancestors were, but what Harry could become should you allow Dumbledore to keep him." Thomas said as Kingsley took notes.

"Time travel like what you did is against more laws than I can think of off the top of my head at the moment boy. How did you do it?" Moody said as he moved closer to the not-child Thomas.

"To travel through time like I had, you would have to be willing to give your life to the Timekeeper. Most people aren't willing to do so because there is no guarantee that the Timekeeper will allow you to travel in his domain. I was willing to do anything to change what had happened and prevent the world from becoming what it became the day Harry Potter was finally broken. Sometimes I feel that I may have cheated the Timekeeper, and that I will be punished for it in the worst way. I was going to die soon anyways. I had less than a year before the treatments for the extremely slow acting poison I had been given upon refusing to serve my grandfather ceased to be effective. Voldemort wanted me to die a slow and painful death. It took thirty years for me to do so." Thomas said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Where did you learn this?" Moody growled. Information like this could be dangerous in any hands, and the sooner the source was found and dealt with, the sooner the world would be safe from well meaning idiots who wanted to go back and change things in the past.

"Lily Potter's notes on the subject were quite extensive. Currently, I believe they reside in the Restricted and Highly Dangerous section in the Department of Mysteries. I got them out of the ruins of the Ministry building about, what for me, would have been two years ago and for you would have been about thirty-nine or forty years from now." Thomas replied.


	7. The Seven Years of School

Kingsley stared at the boy before him. The unbelievable but true words he had spoken had shaken him to the core. The man he knew of as Albus Dumbledore would never have an innocent man sent to prison or threaten a man with death for wanting to visit his best friend's son. The great and good Albus Dumbledore would never use a child to destroy his only remaining family no matter how evil he was. Would he?

"He would and he did." Thomas said. Apparently Kingsley had unwittingly given voice to his thoughts. " Prophecies generally aren't worth the sphere they're recorded in, unless you actually work to set them in motion. Dumbledore had used the prophecy he had heard in an attempt to destroy Voldemort and Grindlewald's lines in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, things don't always go according to plan, and his plan to eliminate the lines of the worst Dark Lords of the last century ended up destroying the world. But, hey he was dead, so it wasn't his problem. I actually enjoyed blasting his portrait to kingdom come for what he did to my cousin. Harry had been like a brother to me until he broke. Afterwards, it was only the fact that I was blood that kept him from killing me like he did all of his friends when he destroyed the wizarding world."

"You mentioned Dumbledore being dead. How did that happen?" Moody asked.

"Well, it happened at the end of my and Harry's Sixth year. Dumbledore requested a mercy killing from Snape, and it was arranged in such a manner that the man (who was against Voldemort) had appeared to be one of the Dark Lord's greatest followers. Much like Sirius Black's supposed "betrayal" of the Potters. Snape was hunted by his own side at the final battle and left to rot by the Dark Lord and later the Order of the Pheonix. When Harry (who had learned of Snape's true leanings) had tried to have him declared a hero, he was met with a great deal of resistance. It was around then the first cracks really began to show their true depth, and his anger began to spill out." Thomas replied "Snape had protected Harry in his own way all of his life out of love for Lily even though he was torn by his hatred of James, and asked nothing of Harry in return. Harry had respected that, and had been angry that others hadn't."

"We need to finish this soon. People outside are becoming impatient." Moody said as his magical eye rotated and looked through the door.

"While Aunt Petunia showed us no affection during the day, and quietly snuck us food at night with a few kind words, Vernon worked us like slaves until the letters arrived. One for me, and about a thousand for Harry. Vernon had fled the letters, but he couldn't elude the messenger. Rubeus Hagrid came personally to deliver Harry's last letter and confirmation of something I had been telling him all along. Until Harry met Hagrid, he hadn't believed himself to be a wizard. We were taken to Diagon Alley on Harry's eleventh birthday, though it was apparent that Hagrid didn't want me along. When we got to the school on September first, we were separated for the first time in years. Harry had gone to Gryffindor, and I to Slytherin as was my birthright as the eldest grandson of the Heir of Slytherin and therefore the heir of the Heir of Slytherin. At the end of the year, I was injured before I could stop Harry from going after the Philosopher's Stone.

While Harry and I were still somewhat close, we weren't nearly as close as we were before. My being in Slytherin had been somewhat of a divisive issue. Harry's friends had always treated me as something that had to be tolerated for Harry's sake and never cared for me. They had warmed up to me slightly after they learned that my father was innocent.

During our second year, there was a series of attacks on the student populace that were attributed to a mysterious Heir of Slytherin who had unleashed the creature in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry was suspected to be the Heir of Slytherin, which when someone looks back on it, is rather ironic since he's technically the spare. Harry was once again dragged into a plot involving Voldemort. It was at the end of the school year, while I was locked in the Slytherin dormitories, that Harry had faced a piece of Voldemort that had been preserved in a diary. After nearly being killed by a crazed and rather ill Basilisk, Harry began to finish what he had unwittingly started as a toddler and destroyed the piece of Voldemort.

After having saved the damsel in distress, he was fed an outright lie by Dumbledore. This lie made Harry fear one of the natural abilities he had been born with. An ability he had actually inherited from his mother. Believing it to be an unnatural taint, Harry refused to use his ability to speak parceltounge even when it would've helped him greatly. The private conversations we used to have in the dark while the Dursley's were asleep were no more after second year.

It was shortly before our third year that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban in his desparation to keep me and Harry safe. Almost everyone who had heard of his escape believed he was out to harm Harry except for the true guilty party and the man who sent an innocent person to jail. Since father was from a rather dark family and had (albiet unwittingly) married one of Voldemort's daughters, Dumbledore had never felt any remorse over his incarceration. Throughout that year my life was hell. If it hadn't been for my Godfather Remus who had been appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor that year, I don't know what I would've done. For the six months that Harry truely believed that my father had betrayed his family, he did worse than give me the cold shoulder. His friends were even worse than he. At the end of that school year it was revealed that my father had been innocent and Ron's pet rat who turned out to be Peter Pettigrew was the true guilty party. Before my father's name could be cleared, Peter escaped. My father barely escaped with his life and soul. Harry couldn't apologise enough for his behavior during the time he believed my father to be guilty. His friends didn't apologise at all.

Fourth year was the Triwizard tournament and the return of Voldemort and his death eaters. Harry, who had never even entered, had been selected as the rather unexpected fourth candidate and had been forced to compete. All I could do was support him when the whole school had once again turned against him, and cheer him on during the tasks. I had wondered why Ron Weasley who had treated Harry most horribly for months had been the person he'd miss the most. I had never been so afraid as when Harry vanished upon touching the trophy at the center of the maze. When he returned with Cedric Diggory's body, I regret that I only felt relief that it wasn't Harry lying dead on the ground.

During our fifth year, the Ministry had decided to deny the fact that Voldemort had returned. Instead they had started a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore. Harry had borne the brunt of it though. They had even tried him for the use of underage magic after he had defended Dudley from the dementors. Fortunately there had been two witnesses who could defend him. Throughout that year Harry was treated badly by his fellow students, and regularly tortured by a ministry official named Umbridge who had been appointed to the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. Throughout that year, when Voldemort did something, like when he broke his followers out of Azkaban, it was blamed on my father. When Harry had a vision that lured him to the Ministry of Magic, I along with his two friends and three members of the illegal study group he taught followed. I had been fighting one of the Carrows when my father fell into the veil in the department of mysteries after receiving a stunner from Bellatrix Lestrange. After seeing Voldemort with his own two eyes at the ministry, Minister Fudge finally believed Harry and tried to make nice with him. My father's name was cleared that year, but he, being dead, wasn't able to enjoy it.

During our sixth year, the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scringemor, had tried to get Harry to show support for the Ministry of Magic as it made ineffective gestures against Voldemort and his pureblood elite followers. It was also during that year that Draco Malfoy, having been ordered to kill the headmaster by Lord Voldemort, made several ineffective attempts on Dumbledore's life that ended up hurting innocent bystanders. Throughout the year, Dumbledore showed Harry a highly edited version of the life of the man who became Voldemort as he prepared him to hunt for Voldemort's horucruxes. It was towards the end of the year, while Dumbledore and Harry were retrieving a fake horucrux (the real one having been stolen by my father's younger brother in an attempt to destroy it) that Draco let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. There had been a battle that Dumbledore and Harry had joined towards the end in which Professor Snape killed Dumbledore in a rather elaborate assisted suicide/attempt to assist Draco who had failed in his task.

It was during the summer before what would've been our seventh year that the war against Voldemort began in earnest. He had taken control of the ministry in one fell swoop while Harry and I were at the Weasley's home. We (Harry, Ron, Hermione and I) had run when we were warned of an imminent attack. Someone in our small group said Voldemort's name shortly after our departure, unaware of the taboo that had been put on it, bringing the Death Eaters down upon us. It was my capture that had allowed Harry, Ron and Hermione to escape and begin their search for Voldemort's remaining horucruxes. Over the months that Harry was searching for pieces of Voldemort's soul to destroy, I was being tortured by the creature that I soon discovered was my grandfather for refusing to serve him. The culmination of this torture was the slow acting poison that burned through my insides. There was no actual antidot for this poison, but its effects could be virtually halted with proper treatment. Months after we were separated, Harry, Ron and Hermione were captured and taken to Malfoy Manor where we were finally reunited. We, with Olivander, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, and Griphook the goblin managed to escape and find our way to Bill Weasley's home. It was there that we heard that Remus, who had married Tonks, had a son. Shortly, after a daring robbery and escape at Gringotts, we ended up at Hogwarts where the final battle took place. Many people lost their lives that day, including Remus and Tonks. Eventually, in a duel in the great hall, Harry won the day." Thomas said summarizing His and Harry's school careers.

"What does what you did in school have to do with anything?" Moody asked.

"I had not really been much involved in the events that shaped Harry as a wizard. At school, other than the occasional meeting and Christmas break, I moved in my circles and Harry in his. It was only during the summer that we were able to spend much time togehter, since we were at the Dursleys, it hadn't been much fun. I had allowed Harry's friends to chase me away over the years." Thomas began. "Had I been there, had we not become as distant as we had, Harry would've had support at the most critical moments from someone who actually knew what he was going through having gone through some of it. He may not have sought the revenge on the wizarding world that he did. Much of the destruction that came afterward may have been prevented."

"But still, why?" Moody growled out. He hadn't seen the point of summarizing an entire school career when the most important part of the story had come afterward in his view.

"Because, once I leave this room, what had happened won't happen again. Harry will know what he was truly up against. Things that could've happened differently will. People who had such a negative impact the last time around won't be in key places this time. This time, Harry won't break, and the wizarding world won't be destroyed." Thomas said with all of the conviction he could muster under the effects of veritaserum.

"So how exactly did Harry "break" in the first place?" Moody asked.

"It all started during the relative peace after the second Voldemort war when a former reporter named Rita Skeeter had found some adoption papers while doing actual research (after all what can be more shocking than the truth) for her book on Voldemort in France..."


	8. Interlude: Future Rita

Rita Skeeter stared down at the document in front of her. Someone in the Family Welfare department of the French Ministry of magic had sped through the adoption of a supposedly abandoned toddler named Lilith Riddle by a muggle named Evans. The father, a Tom Marvolo Riddle had returned to England without the child months prior, and therefore had not been around to consent to said adoption. The child's deceased mother's name stood out as well. The woman had been rumored to be the daughter of Grindlewald if she remembered correctly. This, if it was what she thought it was would be greater than any prior scandal in the last two centuries. She would have to tread lightly and preserve copies of all of the documentation she found if she wanted it to get out without someone destroying all of the proof.

Nobody would appreciate anything that placed the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Save-The-World-From-Voldemort in a bad light, so she would have to be careful how she worded things. Perhaps if she worked it from another angle... Harry Potter had been trying to push a bill through the Ministry that would have the home lives of the children accepted to Hogwarts examined and if necessary the children removed and given extensive counseling. Perhaps she could somehow tie the information to that. If she did it just right, her story could put her back on top.

After two years of extensive research and an exhaustive period of constantly writing and rewriting, she was finally ready to unveil her masterpiece. A book about the tragic tale of the "Riddle Family" and an acticle that began the fall of the Wizarding world which would in turn cause the fall of the Muggle world. Five years after the fall of Voldemort and the end of the second Voldemort war, a shocking article appeared on the front page of the Daily Prophet under Rita Skeeter's byline accompanied by a black and white muggle photograph of a small boy in ragged clothes sporting a black eye and a palm shaped bruise on his left cheek.

NEW CHILD WELFARE LAW A CENTURY TOO LATE !

By: Rita Skeeter

Earlier this month, a "rather progressive" child welfare law was finally ratified by the Ministry of Magic after years of struggle for its main supporter Harry Potter The Chosen One. Sadly, for millions throughout the world this law came a century too late. Why a century you ask? Because a hundred years ago a bill that was rather similar to the one that had recently passed into law had been put to the Wizengamut and was immediately rejected as a "frivolous waste of time and Ministry resources". My book, **A Riddle Tragedy**, outlines the tale of the destruction of an entire family that in turn nearly caused the destruction of the Wizarding world, an event that could have been prevented had the kind-hearted framers of the bill pushed a little harder and gotten the law to pass a century ago.

In the intervening decades almost every other country and even the Muggles themselves have surpassed us in passing laws to protect our greatest and most precious asset, the future generation. In 1906, three years after we rejected the aforementioned child welfare bill, the American Ministry of Magic passed Timothy's Law in honor of a brave young Muggleborn wizard named Timothy Andrews who had been murdered by his muggle parents at the orders of their local pastor (a religous leader of a church) the summer after he returned from his first year of schooling. This law ensured that muggleborn witches and wizards were either safe in their own homes, or placed in homes where they would be safe. A year later, the Marcus Peverell ammendment was added to cover the welfare of pureblooded and half-blooded children in unsuitable homes after a particularly nasty incident when young Marcus' father used the cutting curse as punishment for a minor infraction and inadvertantly killed his son.

One wonders how we who have had the resources for several centuries have fallen behind even the Muggles in the care and treatment of the most vulnerable of our population, the poor damaged children who have been too afraid to reveal what has been happening behind closed doors. Even when such things happen out in the open, or are openly obvious, we have done very little to correct it.

For those of you wondering about the photograph alongside the article, it was provided by a muggle, William Benjamin Stubbs 78, with the words "We all had it rough at the orphanage. Everyone seemed to have it out for Tom though, especially Mrs. Cole." The photograph is of a hurt boy who lashed out at the world that had hurt and rejected him as soon as able. A boy who, with proper care and treatment could've become a productive member of society with nearly endless potential. A boy I have recently discovered to be the grandfather of the Chosen One himself. The boy was named Tom Marvolo Riddle, but most of the Wizarding world knew of him as either Voldemort or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

(For more information on Rita Skeeter's explosive expose on the life and family of the most feared Dark Lord in centuries, turn to page 4.)

--&--

The day **A Riddle Tragedy **came out, it sold out and remained sold out for several months afterward, as soon as the copies came off of the printing presses they were snatched up by eager readers in several countries around the world.

It was when Harry had gone alone digging for proof that Rita's allegations were no more than a tissue of lies that he learned that Rita had found the truth, and what's more Dumbledore had always known. Learning that one's whole life was a lie would damage the psyche of the sanest of people; heaping that on one whose pscyhe had been damaged to near breaking had prooved to be far too much. In short, Harry snapped.


	9. The End of the Tale

"What does a book by that infernal Skeeter woman have to do with anything?" Moody asked.

"Everything." Tom said. "Harry spent an entire year obsessively trying to prove that the book had been just another one of Skeeter's smear campaigns, only to find that she had found the truth this time. The documents that Rita had discovered in France had been declared genuine by every document examiner in the wizarding world. Harry had already been somewhat fragile due to the hard life he had led, discovering that his entire life had been a lie shattered him. Everybody had been too busy rebuilding the wizarding world to pay too much attention to him, even his own friends and the woman who claimed to love him. If they had been there for him, they would have realized something was very wrong before the first deaths had occured. By the time the first deaths were tied to Harry, he had already set himself on the path toward becoming a Dark Lord more feared than Grindlewald and Voldemort combined, and had killed many others. Over the next couple of decades Harry systematically destroyed the entire wizarding world, starting with Hogwarts, the first place he and his grandfather had been able to call home. Many wizards tried to bring him down, but thanks to fate, some unknown power, or the fact that he was completely insane, Harry survived each attack while his attackers did not. While Harry was destroying everything, I tried to keep what little was left of the Wizarding world alive. I gathered every surviving wizard that was willing to come out of hiding to me, and started a school on the grounds of the one place Harry swore never to return to, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As I taught the few wizarding children that were left, Harry finished off the most remote parts of the Wizarding world, and started on the Muggle one. During the last year of my life, Harry infiltrated a military base that housed several missiles with nuclear warheads, and launched them against China. This started a war in which many such missiles were launched, causing what the muggles called a "Nuclear Winter". As I was dying, the world was dying. The last remnants of humanity were struggling to survive, slowly starving while Harry picked them off one by one."

"If it had been me, I would've killed him the instant I had gotten back in time. He's obviously proof that blood will out. " Moody said. "Why didn't you?"

"Other than the fact that he's family? " Tom asked.

"Yes!" Moody yelled "Give me one reason that I shouldn't go out there right now and kill him myself."

"Because, if Harry is killed Voldemort would return to the world unopposed by any with power approaching his own and the world will be destroyed. One thing that is unknown to most people, is that Dumbledore is on a decline and isn't nearly as powerful as he used to be. That is why Dumbledore used Harry the last time. Harry was born with a potential matching that of his grandfather, I take more after my father when it comes to magical potential." Tom replied.

"Wouldn't the world be destroyed anyway if Harry is allowed to live?" Kingsley asked.

"No, a man is a product of both heredity and his environment, change the environment early enough, and you change the man. A Harry who isn't being abused by his uncle, knows something more of what he is getting into, and is less trusting of the man who would cheerfully lead him to his destruction with a pat on the back, a smile and a pack of lies will be less likely to break the way the Harry who destroyed the world had." Tom replied.

"So, we're supposed to let someone who could and did destroy the entire world live because there is a chance that he might not do it this time?" Moody asked.

"The man who destroyed the world is gone, lost to the mists of time, all that is left is a child who could become someone else with the proper guidance. Could you really kill a child for something he might do in a future that may have already been changed?" Tom replied. "If we can keep Dumbledore away long enough, if we could keep him from obliviating us and returning us to the Dursleys, keep him from setting us back on the old path, things might truly change. The world might be spared the destruction that would be caused if things happened as they had the last time."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moody sat and thought for a while, digesting everything the boy had said, and considering something he would have thought impossible a day before: causing the death of the Boy-Who-Lived. After thinking things over for more than an hour he made his decision.

"Sorry Kingsley." He said before he obliviated the young Auror and took the interrogation transcripts from him.

"I truly hope you're doing the right thing boy," he said as he escorted Tom from the room. "I'll be watching just in case."

He watched the boy walk out of the Ministry building, hoping he made the right decision. He then went home where he made four copies of the interview transcripts which he promptly sealed. One copy went to a high security vault at Gringotts. One copy went to the department of Time and Prophesies at the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry to be held under seal for the next forty years. The other two copies he hid in his home in places only he could reach. The original was placed in a sealed file in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement only to be opened if there was a trial for a crime resulting in death against either Thomas James Black or Harry James Potter.

When this was done, he went to an orphanage in a relatively poor section of London where he saw a black haired, green eyed boy laughing for the first time in a very long time.


	10. Epilogue: Coming to the Beginning

Tom knew he was dying. The poison had almost entirely eaten through him, and the treatments and painkillers had ceased to work. He looked up at the glowing green sky. For the past several months it had been the same venomous green that Harry's eyes had become after he had gone mad and started to destroy the world. He shivered inside of the heavy parka he wore as he finished the circle he was making in the deep snow. Though it was the Summer Solstice, it felt as if it were the depths of Winter. The deep snow on the ground added to this feeling. Casting a warming charm upon himself would ruin the ritual, and he would not survive long enough to make a second attempt. He looked down at the neatly written notes that had been penned by an aunt he could no longer remember, Harry's mother Lily.

Tom chanted carefully, praying that he hadn't mispronounced anything, and that the ritual would work. As he finished chanting, the air in the center of the circle seemed to bend. As he looked at the ruins of Hogwarts through this bent air, he saw the school reform and he watched many generations of students rush about their lives all in the space of about a minute. The bent and twisting air was replaced by a man of indeterminate age with ancient eyes.

"Who are you that wishes to travel my domain?" the man in the circle asked in a voice that was both a whisper and a shout.

"I am Thomas, son of Sirius." Tom replied.

"What will you give me in exchange for passage?" the man in the circle asked.

"I will give you the rest of my life." Tom replied.

"Accepted." the man in the circle said before stepping aside. In the place that he had been was a swirling vortex.

The embodiment of time watched as Tom entered his domain for the millionth time, perhaps this time Moody would make the right decision and the world would be set to rights.


End file.
